Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silencer for a wind instrument.
Description of the Related Art
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent No. 2865030) and Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent No. 4986091) disclose silencers for wind instruments (hereinafter each referred to simply as “silencer”) used for reducing a volume of sounds produced by a wind instrument such as a trumpet.
FIG. 11 is a side view (partially in cross section) illustrating a silencer disclosed in Patent Document 1. FIG. 11 illustrates a state in which the silencer is fitted in a wind instrument. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the silencer 23 is constituted by a front end portion 23A and a rear end portion 23B. The silencer 23 has an intermediate portion in its axial direction at which the front end portion 23A and the rear end portion 23B are bonded to each other. The silencer 23 has the largest outside diameter at the vicinity of this intermediate portion, and the outside diameter of the silencer 23 decreases toward a distal end 25 of the front end portion 23A and a distal end 26 of the rear end portion 23B. In a state in which a portion of the rear end portion 23B near the distal end 26 is secured to an inner wall of a bell 3 of the wind instrument, the front end portion 23A and a portion of the rear end portion 23B near a bonded portion of the silencer 23 at which the front end portion 23A and the rear end portion 23B are bonded to each other project outward or frontward from an end face of the bell 3. A user of this silencer 23 removes the silencer 23 from the wind instrument by grasping a side face of a portion of the silencer 23 near the bonded portion and/or a side face of the front end portion 23A and pulling the silencer 23 in a direction of an axis of the silencer 23, specifically, in a direction away from the bell 3 while rotating the silencer 23 about the axis by a small amount. This silencer 23 is easy to remove from the wind instrument but greatly projects outward from the end face of the bell 3. Thus, in a state in which the user holds the wind instrument in which the silencer 23 is fitted, the wind instrument is out of balance in most cases, specifically, the center of gravity of the wind instrument lies in front of the end face of the bell 3.
FIG. 12 is an elevational view in vertical cross section illustrating a silencer disclosed, in Patent Document 2. FIG. 12 illustrates a state in which the silencer is fitted in a wind instrument. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the silencer 10 is constituted by a body 1 and a bottom portion 2. The body 1 has generally a conical pipe shape, and its outside diameter decreases from a large-diameter end 1b toward a small-diameter end 1a along an inner wall of the bell 20. The bottom portion 2 is shaped like a bowl, and a bottom portion of the bowl is parallel to a plane perpendicular to the axis of the silencer 10. The bottom portion 2 smoothly curves from the bottom portion of the bowl toward an edge portion of the bowl, and the edge portion of the bowl is bonded to the body 1. In a state in which a portion of the body 1 near the small-diameter end 1a is secured to the inner wall of the bell 20, a portion of the silencer 10 near a bonded portion thereof at which the bottom portion 2 and the body 1 are bonded to each other is located at an end face of the bell 20, and the bottom portion 2 having the bowl shape projects outward of frontward from the end face of the bell 20. In this silencer 10, the bottom portion 2 projecting from the end face of the bell 20 is relatively short in length in the axial direction. Thus, in a state in which a user holds the wind instrument in which the silencer 10 is fitted, the center of gravity of the wind instrument does not lie in front of the end face of the bell 20 when compared with the wind instrument illustrated in FIG. 11.